2019 FELLOWS

Africave’s inaugural fellows have built an electricity plant from scrap that powers seven communities in Sierra Leone; are creating an affordable and all-natural solution to end malaria in Ghana; are South Africa’s Under-12 Diving champion; have been invited to the Nobel Prize award ceremony; have spoken at TEDx events; are one of the youngest Chartered Accountants in Nigeria, and are on South Africa’s team at the 2019 World Gymnaestrada Games.

SAMUEL MOSES ELBA, 18, SIERRA LEONESamuel is a first-year student at Africa Leadership University pursuing a Bachelor’s honors in Global Challenge with a focus on Renewable and Environmental conservation. The zest to solve problems in his community through entrepreneurship informed his decision to choose innovation as his long-term commitment.

Samuel grew up in a slum in Sierra Leone with unstable access to electricity supply. After losing his Dad in a car accident in 2012, his family was unable to pay for electricity. He understood the importance of clean, friendly and affordable electricity, he took up the task to build a self-power generator. Using metal and scraps he mostly picked from dustbins and old gadgets, he built his community’s first self-powered generator which provides electricity for students in 7 houses in his community.

At Africave, Samuel hopes to apply the experiential learning process and mentoring, to build global solutions to problems that affect Africa.

DUKE EKEZIE-JOSEPH, 19, NIGERIADuke is a 400 level student of Policy and Administrative Studies at the University of Calabar. Startled by the number of young persons in his home country of Nigeria who were nonchalant about shaping the sociopolitical and cultural discourse, Duke decided to take action.

He is the creator of Youspeak – a youth-led organization that aims to teach leadership and problem-solving skills to young people. Using social advocacy to engage them, Youspeak hopes to create citizens who challenge social norms and harmful cultures in their communities. Their hubs throughout several locations require students to select a social issue in their community they are most passionate about addressing, and use this issue to put their new skills into practice. Youspeak also provides mentors to guide students on this journey of social change.

Through Youspeak, Duke has been able to empower over 1,000 young persons in his community. He intends to pursue a career in Investment Banking and Development Finance because he envisages a world where capital will be a major driver of value to developing countries. He is happy to be a part of the Africave community!

JORDANELLA MALUKA, 18 – DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND TANZANIAJordanella is a young Tanzanian and Congolese, raised in Sweden. She has been a member of the Youth Council in her municipality, which allows youths to influence political decisions that concern them.

In 2015, Jordanella co-created the social media campaign called #LåtbrödernaShabanistanna when 2 brothers at her school were forcefully deported. In 2018, Jordanella was invited to the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony where she saw Dr. Denis Mukwege receive the prize. This passion from Dr. Mukwege’s work inspired her to go on to give a TEDx talk titled “Why we can no longer live in ignorance”: to bring awareness to the atrocities taking place in DRC, but more importantly to galvanize action to end it.

Jordanella is very passionate about her fatherland: DR Congo, which she describes as “an incredible country that has suffered conflict for too long”. Her goal is to change the destructive narratives that catalyze conflict around the DRC and make it possible for Congolese people to take place on platforms where their voices are needed. She is 18-years-old and looks to become a global leader in the future.

PRINCE NYARKO MENSAH,GHANA

Prince founded Youth Macho, to empower young Ghanaians with skills to be agents of change in their communities. Prince is an avid learner and reader always looking for opportunities to develop himself to take on challenges that confront Africa.
Prince is currently building an effective, all-natural mosquito repellant to prevent malaria in the world.

In 2018, he won first seed funding from Innovate Ghana to work on this product. His interests lie at the intersection of technology, finance and philosophy. Prince believes God is the source of his strength. At Africave, Prince hopes to employ the expertise of the mentoring team to launch and scale his product globally.

He works as a fundraiser for Tech Era: a social enterprise that has been recognized by Her Majesty The Queen of England for using technology to transform the lives of persons with disabilities.

ISAAC POPOOLA, 18 – NIGERIAIsaac Popoola is a student at the University of Lagos majoring in Petroleum and Gas Engineering. Isaac is passionate about developing Africa with major concerns on the Energy sector. He is a goal-getter and self motivated person whose major interests lies across Energy, Technology, Business Strategy, Project Management and community building.

He is the Cofounder/Strategy lead for the GoalKeepers Network, an SDGs awareness campaign aimed at reaching out to youths across West Africa about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, motivating them to actively implement the goals and engaging in SDGs related activities. The network has reached out to over 600 youths both within and outside Nigeria leveraging on social media and offline platform.

Isaac has volunteered with several organization including LagosFoodbank, Restructure Africa and Youths in Diaspora for various community outreach. He emerged a second prize winner of the RusselSmith Inspire Essay Competition in 2018 out of over 300 participants. He recently earned a Project Management certificate from the Open University, Italy and an Energy Efficiency Certificate from the Schneider Energy University.

KOREDE BOLARINWA, 19 – NIGERIAOluwakorede Bolarinwa was born in Lagos and is current undergraduate of Babcock University where she is studying Accounting. She is interested in the relationship between finance and technology thus is pursuing internships at leading Consulting firms. In the course of her academic pursuits, Korede has won many awards.

At 19, she has completed and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. She served as Executive Council for her university’s Accounting Students Association. She very recently joined Andela: Africa’s foremost technology firm for training software engineers.

Korede enjoys reading books, watching movies and pursuing adventures. She is passionate about working towards poverty alleviation and improving access to quality education

BRIDGET ADAMS, 14 – SOUTH AFRICABridget currently studies at Meisies Hoërskool in Pretoria. As an active sports woman, she has participated in different South African championships representing the Gauteng team in Rhythmic gymnastics as well as Synchronized swimming. In July 2019, Bridget will join South Africa’s team to Austria for the World Gymnaestrada Games. Thereafter she will compete in Germany at the Gymnastica tournament. In the future Bridget wishes to continue her passion for sports, and one day be involved in a way to assist people in developing their full potential using sport as a means.

Bridget believes that Africa has the potential to be a global leader, but this will only be able through her majority people; young people (75% under the age of 25). By being an Africave fellow, Bridget will be one step closer to being a continental influencer towards change.

ELYSE MUKUNDENTE, 18 – RWANDAElyse studies at the prestigious African Leadership University. She is currently undergoing a leadership core which comprises Project management, Data and decision skills, strategic social change communication, and Entrepreneurial leadership skills. She aspires to pursue her studies in Global affairs, with a specialization in Governance and International Trade.

At Africave, Elyse looks to improve her values in leadership and community-building to continue to contribute to Africa’s growth.

TOLUWANI EYITAYO ADEBAYO, 19 – NIGERIAToluwani is a medical doctor in training at Bowen University, Nigeria. For the past two years, Toluwani has worked to destigmatize mental health in her come country where people with mental health conditions are abused. She deploys measurable actions to change perspectives around mental health and provide care to mental health patients.

As a medical doctor, she hopes to devote her career to influencing policy around mental health and helping people with mental health conditions pursue wellness. She is a 2019 Kectil Colleague and an Ambassdor of the YouthLead Team in Nigeria.

CHELSEA JORDAN LEWIS, 19 – SOUTH AFRICAChelsea Lewis is pursuing a Degree in International Business at the American College of Spain and is also a member of Code4CPT. Prior to moving to Spain, Chelsea worked for Code4CT in Cape Town. A program that assist young women to develop skills in technology and leadership.

Chelsea also volunteered at SA Deskbuddy Foundation, an organization providing educational tools to African children. Chelsea was born as the middle child with two siblings in Cape Town South Africa, she is passionate about the development of women in STEM and the advancement of technology and education in Africa.

Her interests include yoga, reading classics, traveling, protecting the environment and volunteering.

SEGUN EMMANUEL SAMUEL, 18 – NIGERIASamuel is a student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and he is passionate about growing businesses to impact their environment.

He currently runs Jofry with some colleagues: an enterprise tailored to provide job opportunities for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kaduna state, Nigeria. Jofry will teach these young people digital skills and offer them digital jobs once their training is completed.

Jofry has won the Hult Prize Award at the university competition and is currently applying for the Hult Prize wild card round for an opportunity to attend the Hult Prize eight-week business acceleration program in London this year

OTHANDWAYO NOBULA, 17 – SOUTH AFRICAOthandwayo was born in the Eastern Cape, Queenstown, South Africa. After starting school at the age of 6, she took interest in various activities geared towards self-development including chess, singing, netball and reading books. She joined her high-school’s debate club and it afforded her the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and build her cross-cultural competence.

Since 2015, she has participated in the National Championships and has been selected as one of the best debaters in South Africa.

Othandwayo currently heads her school’s Centre Of Science and Technology, will study computer science in the coming year, and in future aspires to become a software engineer: a field that many girls in her country do not have access to.

Her biggest goal is to start an I.T programme aimed at helping young African women to access careers in STEM.

GERALD REVOCATUS MUKAMA, 18 – TANZANIAGerald was raised in Dar Es Salaam Tanzania by his mother. His passion for building solutions led him to learning how to code in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Python. He went on to receive a Certificate in Information and Technology.

Outside of programming, Gerald is a musician who plays the drums, and sings too. He is passionate about uniting his knowledge, art and striking personal story to build technological solutions for Africa.

ARINOLA OMISORE KAWTHAR, 18 – NIGERIAOmisore Kawthar studies Law at the University of Ibadan. Her passion for global citizenship education led her to joining One African Child, a foundation for qualitative learning where she contributes to efforts to provide education to children.

She is the General secretary for the Ibadan region. Kawthar is an ambassador of HundrED, a global network of young change makers who are passionate about changing the face of education in their communities and across the world.

She is an associate of organizations including ONE, JCI, Patabah Book club, and December to Remember.

STEPHEN ADAMS, 13 – SOUTH AFRICAStephen is currently South Africa’s under-12 Champion in Diving, and ended third 2 years ago in the SA Judo championships. At the age of 9, Stephen undertook a 7-week research trip by road from Pretoria to Nairobi. Meeting new people and learning the various ways in which people live has always interested him to learning about how he can make a difference.

Being a thinker and problem solver, Stephen enjoys exploring new things and finding ways to make things work better. Stephen believes that healthy families can provide the ideal platform for personal development. He is incredibly passionate about the medical field and considers it as a possible platform to help and come alongside people in need.

As an Africave Fellow, Stephen’s passion for Africa and her people is strong, and he envisions a continent with access to global opportunities. Envisioning a continent where justice prevails and equality and access to global opportunities are available, will help significantly to ease his spirit and frustration for what is right.

Although achieving greatly in Diving and Judo, his favorite sport remains rugby.

ARCHIBONG BASSEY, 19 – NIGERIAArchibong is a Child & Adolescent Advocate focusing on giving children and adolescents a voice in the society by ensuring promotion and adoption of healthy lifestyles, making informed decisions and prevention of an unplanned future. He cares about street children and adolescents, advocating for their rights and pushing for an end to witchcraft branding.

Archibong is a youth advocate at the GURU foundation, committed to building a generation of young people educated to become compassionate, entrepreneurial, leaders and engaged citizens who are empowered to take responsibility for their lives and making a difference in the world by providing practical leadership training, peace-building sessions, career programs, and entrepreneurial training.

He strives for a world where children and young people have a voice and reach their full potentials as bright scholars and future leaders in society.

DAVID ISAYA MWAFULANGO, 18 – TANZANIAA student of Agricultural economics at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania, David has an ambition to modernize the agricultural landscape in East Africa by leveraging on technology to ensure that a large number of East African farmers are able to access the global agricultural market.

He wishes to be an Africave fellow because he believes the fellowship would provide him with the mentorship required to pursue his great agricultural dreams.

AISHAH OJIBARA, 18, NIGERIAAishah Ojibara is a third-year student of the University of Ilorin, currently studying Health Education. Alongside her schoolmates, she created the Mental Awareness Group (M. A. G), an organization which spreads awareness about mental illnesses to erase harmful stereotypes about mental health among students.

Aishah interned with the Health Alive Foundation in Ilorin, where she specialized in tuberculosis awareness, school outreach programmes, HIV testing and prevention schemes, among others. Aishah is a writer and debater. When she’s not working on her collection of short stories or working in health, she is talking about sports.

Her goal is to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) or UNICEF, to bolster healthcare for children globally.

DOMINICA ABENA AMANFO, 18 – GHANACurrently one of the few female Computer Engineering students at the University of Ghana, Dominica dreams of inventing apps and machines to help make the world become a better place.

She has interned at Ghana’s leading fashion brand, Adjoa Yeboah, and is on the management team of The Lady.

Dominica dreams of an Africa that is economically and politically developed through the use of technology to make processes work faster and efficiently.

FAITH ADESAYO OLUWANIYI, 19 – NIGERIA

Faith is a final year student of Covenant University with internship experiences in Consulting (working for KPMG) and the Oil and Gas industry. She is the first Female Lead speaker of The A-Students Summit, a platform where she teaches students on how best to excel in life and not just academics.

She has the goal of becoming the First Female Central Bank Governor of Nigeria to enable her drive economic change in Nigeria and increase economic opportunities for women. She currently serves as the Head of Research in a fast-growing Non-Profit organization called Nurturing God’s Treasures, which seeks to develop the skills and talents in the African child by teaching vocational skills using multiple intelligence.

Faith likes to read classical romance novels.

CLIFFORD TEMPLE IZUCHUKWU, 18 – NIGERIA

Clifford is an 18 year old speaker, debater and content creator from Nigeria. He currently attends the Imo State University where he studies Law. Temple is very passionate about social change and is committed to serving as an agent of change.

In 2018 he started The Clifford Temple Story, a platform on YouTube and other social media platforms dedicated to sharing impactful stories with a seamless blend of spoken word poetry in order to draw attention to certain social situations and coming up with responses, thoughts and positive solutions directed towards leading a better life. He is also the chapter leader of Redefy Nigeria which is a chapter of Redefy, a global nonprofit organization fighting stereotypes and seeking to promote social justice.

He describes one of the wondrous moments of life as any opportunity he gets, to engage with peers with similar visions and ideals as his, in order to deliberate on more effective ways to dispense value in society.

PASCAL MANOR-WHITEMAN, 19 – GHANA

Pascal is a Bachelor’s student from Ghana. He is a college junior currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Ghana. He earned his Secondary School Certificate from Ada Senior High School in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

He was recently selected and is serving as a volunteer for the Kids and Math Organization in Ghana, where he teaches Junior High School students at the Accra ChildTime High School, basic concepts and applications in Math using innovative teaching techniques.

KEHINDE TOTOOLA, 18 – NIGERIA

Kehinde is fascinated by technology. He’s always inquisitive hence his passion for learning how various tech works. His passion was discovered from his activities in taking coding classes as a beneficiary of the Teens Can Code program.

That program is the ink to Kenny’s coding career. An internship outside his state of residence gave him the opportunity to step out of the comfort zone and meet new young people. His experience working with passionate young people from all over his country grounded his belief that African youths are the leaders of today.

Kehinde aspires to be a Fullstack software developer, a mentor to other teenagers around him who have an interest in technology and most importantly a world class entrepreneur